


Sometimes You Just Need a Tattoo

by Azeran



Series: Miraculous [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, Gen, Luka Couffaine Loves Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Lukanette, Original Character(s), Protective Luka Couffaine, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:47:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23092849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azeran/pseuds/Azeran
Summary: Marinette gets her first tattoo, and Luka supports her latest creative stint.
Relationships: Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: Miraculous [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1773388
Comments: 23
Kudos: 472
Collections: Miraculous Stories





	Sometimes You Just Need a Tattoo

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Quickspinner](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quickspinner/gifts).



> I blame Quickspinner for this. It’s also dedicated to them. Also, this fic does feature an old OC of mine, which I’m borrowing from a friend/an old story we created. He’s not plot changing, but someone had to give Marinette her first tattoo. Hope that doesn’t offer too much distraction.

Luka had to hand it to Marinette. When she decided to do something, she does it. The motto ‘go big or go home’ comes to mind as they sit in the back of the tattoo parlor, waiting for the tattoo artist to arrive. Her fingers were laced through his, a sketchbook splayed open across their touching thighs. Gracing its pages is a drawing of what Luka can only guess is a charm bracelet. 

Looped on a ribbon so dark green it was almost black, the bracelet held several little charms attached with delicate links. One of them was a bass clef, which made him smile. Next to it was a Chinese rose, drawn in blush pink, and a tiny paw print in black, outlined in acid green. Luka paused, tracing it again with his eyes, before his smile softened with a quiet knowing. He’d leave that one alone for today. Focus on the big picture, the sketch itself. 

All in all, the drawing was very feminine, very…. _Marinette._ Even if it’s not what he would’ve expected for her first tattoo. It still made sense. Perfect sense. 

“I’m guessing the charms represent people important to you?” Luka tapped the paw print, watching Marinette’s cheeks burn a gentle, responsive red. He swiveled his fingertip across the paper and caressed the curve of the music note, lightly smirking. “What about this one?”

Marinette squeaked and looked away, anxiously wrapping a lock of hair around her finger. “If it bothers you, I can take that one off! Change it to something else…” 

Luka chuckled. She was so cute. “Why would it bother me? I like being important to you.” He savored her flustered reaction for another few moments before he decided to put her out of her misery. “Seriously Marinette, I love it. It’s a cute idea. Really.”

“...You think so?” There. That lovely sparkle Luka so adored returned to her eyes, making the sapphire glimmer like freshly polished jewels. “I just thought it made sense! I love jewelry, but I can’t wear a lot of things typically. They get in the way when I’m working on a project. Especially bracelets.” Marinette beamed. “But if it’s tattooed, it won’t be a bother! And I love charm bracelets, so...yeah!” 

Could a guy’s heart explode from excessive cuteness? Luka was leaning towards yes. “Where are you thinking about getting it? Your wrist, right?” Luka picked up her right wrist and cradled it, his thumb rasping across the smooth spot above her pulse. “The skin here can be pretty sensitive. Unless you use numbing cream, it’ll probably hurt a little more.”

“You think so?” Marinette giggled, offering up a coy little smile. “I think I can handle it Luka. But you’re sweet for worrying about me.” 

Her surge of confidence didn’t necessarily surprise him, but it did make Luka curious. Unfortunately, he didn’t get a chance to question her, ask a few probing questions that were niggling him, because the tattoo artist picked that moment to appear out of the woodwork. He wasn’t unattractive, just a little tired looking, with scruffy brown hair and laurel green eyes that had wrinkles at the corners. 

“Marinette, right? I’m Sharp. I run this place.” Sharp offered out a hand to shake, a hammered silver ring glimmering on his middle finger. “When I got your email about setting up an appointment, I was pretty intrigued. Not too often I get fresh meat in here. Didn’t have you pegged for a real life pixie though. A face like that, you probably get carded at every bar in the city.” 

Marinette bit her lip, suppressing what Luka instantly knew was a laugh. “Well, you’re not wrong. My Maman says it’s a curse of the Cheng women. We’re doomed to look forever young.”

“Ahh. The discount version of immortality. Nice.” Sharp’s gaze swiveled over to Luka and immediately lit up, though Luka couldn’t tell why. “ And you’re the... boyfriend? Friend? Loyal confidante?” The guy’s mouth quirked up at the corner in a lopsided smirk. It was harmless, more teasing than anything. 

Luka immediately liked him. 

“I’m Luka. Musician, rockstar in training, and moral support to the pretty girl here.” Nudging Marinette, Luka didn’t waver under her bemused chastisement and simply shrugged. “It’s her first tattoo. Figured she could use the company.”

“Oh yeah? Your first huh? Never would’ve guessed. It’s always the innocent looking ones that surprise you.” Sharp smiled wolfishly, then held up a flimsy bit of opaque paper. Marinette’s drawing was replicated on it in purplish ink, and as far as Luka could see it was a perfect rendition. “So I went ahead and got this ready for you. If there’s any changes you wanna make, better speak now. Personally though, I think it’s great the way it is. It’ll make for one hell of an ink job.”

If Marinette’s excitement grew any more, Luka was fairly certain her tiny frame wouldn’t be able to contain it. “You really think so? That—wow! I’m so glad you said that! I was afraid there might not be enough detail, or, or maybe too much. I’ve never gotten a tattoo before, so I don’t know how far they can go. Creatively speaking, I mean.” Marinette held her sketchbook out for the brunette to take, her infectious joy making both his, and Luka’s lips quiver with suppressed smiles. “I wasn’t sure how well the colors were translated over in the email I sent, so I brought the sketch with me, just in case you wanted a better look.”

Sharp chuckled. “Wouldn’t worry your pretty head about that. The email was pretty clear. But it’s always nice to see a drawing in person. You’re good at what you do, Marinette. If you ever wanted a career in tattoo design, I know plenty of customers who’d pay for something like this.” 

“W-wow! You really think so? Thank you!” 

“Don’t thank me. Just spitting facts. Talent’s talent, and you’ve clearly got enough to go around.” Sharp arched a pierced brow, shooting Luka a grin. “I bet you both do.” He took Marinette’s sketchbook and set it off to the side on a countertop stuffed with tiny plastic caps. The caps were full of ink, and Luka couldn’t help but notice that the colors lined up at the forefront were virtually indistinguishable from the ones on Marinette’s drawing. 

Well, that was comforting. This guy had gone out of his way to get shades that were patented Marinette. Luka relaxed in his chair, offering Sharp a wink when he glanced over his way. Marinette’s killer instincts had struck again. Clearly they’d come to the right place for her first tattoo. Though Luka was still a little concerned about its placement...

The acrid smell of disinfectant filled the air, and after a few interchangeable swipes of a razor and paper towel, Marinette’s wrist was baby smooth. Prepped and ready for the dull sting of the tattoo gun. God, Luka missed it. 

“Hold very still…” tongue between his teeth, Sharp placed the transfer paper on top of Marinette’s wrist. He had it so the tattoo sat at a slight angle, adding a slight sense of realism. His idea, or Marinette’s? 

“Wow! You made that look so easy!” Marinette lifted her arm and admired the purple ink. Even in its beginning stages, it did look cool. Luka could honestly admit that he was a little jealous of Marinette right now. First chance he got, he was splurging on some new ink. It has been far too long. 

“Trust me, that’s because it _was._ This next part’s where things get hard.” Sharp picked up her arm and carefully positioned it on top of the tattoo chair’s armrest, breathing a raspy laugh when goose bumps raced up her milky skin. “You nervous? Don’t tell me lover boy here’s been spinning you some kind of false narrative. Tattoos aren’t that bad. You’ve got pretty thin wrists, so you’ll probably feel some weird vibrations, maybe some stinging. Nothing to stress about though.”

Marinette huffed, rolling her eyes. “Believe me, I’m not. Stressed, that is! But it’s funny you should say that. _Lover boy_ did mention something about pain, and numbing cream…” 

“You think you’ll need it?”

“Nope!” Marinette let the last syllable pop. “I’m tougher than I look. Some people worry too much…”

Both brunettes turned Luka’s way, and he feigned a wounded look, slapping a palm over his heart. “Ouch. Way to call a guy out Marinette. I’m just trying to be a loyal, honest guide on your tattooing adventure.” 

“No, you’re trying to be protective. Which I appreciate, but don’t _need._ I can handle this.” Marinette reached out and flicked a piece of hair out of his face. Luka chuckled and swatted her hand away, teal tips moving back in place against his cheekbones. Sassy Marinette was a spitfire, but he loved watching her in action. 

“Ok, ok. Message received. Consider this me backing down.” 

Apparently their back and forth was entertaining, at least to Sharp. He barked out another one of those rough laughs of his and set to work cleaning his hands. His silver ring caught the light as he tugged it off and set it on the small shelf near Luka, right next to a photo in a carved wooden frame. 

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see the guy in the picture was Sharp, maybe a few years younger, but the girl beside him was a mystery. She looked like she was about his age, with a mess of hair that was a darker version of Marinette’s bluish black color, from what Luka could tell. It offset her chilly blue eyes perfectly, and her deeply tanned skin. 

She was a looker, that’s for sure. She also gave off the very firm impression that she could kick his ass three ways sideways without breaking a sweat. Maybe it had something to do with the halfhearted scowl she was giving Sharp in the picture. Luka had seen that look before. Juleka had it mastered, and Marinette was well on her way to wielding it herself. Lovingly tired exasperation, with a dash of grumpiness for flair. 

Hm. Whoever the woman was, she and Sharp were close. _Very_ close. 

“Careful. You stare any harder, it might combust into flames.”

Luka froze, wincing slightly. Out of the corner of his eye he caught Marinette doing the same before she hastily turned her attention back to Sharp. So he wasn’t the only one caught staring. Whoops. 

“Sorry about that man. Wasn’t trying to pry.”

“I’m sorry too.” Marinette’s face fell, embarrassment leeching some of the color out of her cheeks. “We shouldn’t be nosy.”

Sharp waved off their apologies, readying a sleek looking tattoo gun. “Sheesh, what’s with the puppy dog eyes? Chill you guys. I'm teasing. It’s just a picture. You can look at it.” He pointedly turned the frame towards them, his curled upper lip exposing a hint of canine. “See? We won’t bite.”

Marinette obliviously ignored Sharp’s remarks and leaned in to get a better look. Probably too caught up in the heat of the moment, Luka thought. Marinette was no Alya, but she definitely had a very wide curiosity streak. He wondered if a certain black cat’s influence had anything to do with that. 

“Oh wow! Sharp, she’s so pretty! Is she a model?”

“Nope. Just a tiny, grumpy ass she-demon who runs the bar down the street.”

Clearly that wasn’t the response Marinette expected, if her jaw drop was anything to go by. To be fair, Luka was surprised too. He just showed it with laughter. “Damn man. You don’t pull your punches, so you?”

“Not a chance kid. Trust me, she’d say something even meaner about me. That’s just how we roll. Insults are our way of showing affection.”

“I get that. I tease my sister Juleka all the time. She pretends to hate me when I do, but I know she enjoys it.” Luka nudged Marinette’s free hand with his own. After a short, wary pause, their fingers laced together, and Marinette’s pout slowly began to soften. 

“Well, I think she’s gorgeous. You two must be very close. Is she your wife? Your girlfriend?” 

Sharp hummed non committedly, dipping the tattoo gun’s needles in pitch black ink. “Something like that. We don’t really do labels. Kinda like you two, I’m guessing.” A flick of a switch and the gun flared to life, the loud buzzing covering up any embarrassed noise Marinette might have made. “Relax. No judgment. Whatever’s going on between you, it’s your business. I’m just a tattoo artist. Now do me a favor and hold still, ok? Tattoos are finicky. I don’t want to fuck this up.”

Marinette immediately went quiet, hyper fixated on Sharp as he bent over her arm and lowered the gun to her skin. Luka sucked in a breath, waiting for the first sign of pain, discomfort—

Nothing. Marinette didn’t even flinch. Went a little wide eyed, sure, but she sat stock still and calmly watched Sharp start to work on the outlines of her tattoo. 

That was...fascinating. And impressive. Luka distinctly remembered getting his first tattoo, and it had been an experience chock full of swearing. It took another round of ink work before he managed to zone out and ignore the pain. Now, Luka kind of looked forward to it. It was part of the experience. But he hadn’t been expecting Marinette to handle it so well. 

“You’re doing great,” Luka praised, caressing her knuckles with his thumb. 

“I know. You should have more faith in me.” Marinette stuck her tongue out at him. “I’m not a delicate flower, Luka. I can handle pain. I’ve pricked myself more times sewing than I can even remember! Trust me, you don’t know pain until you get a pin to the rib cage.”

Oof. Fair point. “I guess I didn’t think about that.”

“Told ya kid. It’s the innocent ones you’ve gotta look out for. They’ll make the toughest guy seem like a pansy half the time.” Busy outlining the paw print of Marinette’s tattoo, Sharp glanced up and grinned at them. “I bet you and my girl would get along great. Get back to me when you two can legally drink. I’ll have her hook you up with some celebratory birthday shots.”

While Marinette stammered her thanks, Luka let himself settle back in his chair and sink into a sort of meditative state. The buzzing of the tattoo gun melded with the sound of Marinette’s breathing, and those mingled together with Sharp’s inner song to form a distinct, soothing melody. He kept himself grounded enough to feel Marinette’s skin against his, the occasional flex of her paw fingers, but that was it. He was blissfully out of it, content to watch the ink on Marinette’s wrist slowly take shape. 

Luka wasn’t sure how much time passed. Sharp asked the occasional question, made offhand comments, while Marinette happily chattered away. Everything was...chill. He only vaguely noticed when Sharp finished up with the tattoo’s outlines and switched over to color, rose pink and rich nephrite blossoming across Marinette’s milky complexion. 

And then, the gun switched off. 

“All done,” Sharp announced, blotting at Marinette’s skin with a damp paper towel and carefully dabbing some white cream across the reddened tattoo. “I’ve gotta say, you’re probably one of the best clients I’ve ever had. Not a lot of first timers could sit through all that shading as calmly as you did. Very impressive.”

“Not really. I’ve handled worse.”

Worse huh? Luka squeezed Marinette’s hand, eyeing her wrist thoughtfully as he filed that tidbit of information away for later. Just one more piece for the ever growing, miraculous shaped puzzle inside his head. And it grew clearer every day. Maybe he’d gotten the snake miraculous for a good reason after all. 

“Let it be known that Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a complete and total badass, who never deserves to be doubted in anything she does.” Luka smiled brightly at the beaming brunette, who was admiring her tattoo like it was a wristful of diamonds, not a rainbow of ink and delicate details. Then again, to Marinette, it was probably even better than that. “It looks amazing, Mari. It’s almost as pretty as you.”

“Oh shush you. You’re such a flatterer!” Marinette whacked his thigh, but her expression never wavered. If someone figured out how to harness that much pure joy, they’d have enough power to challenge the world. Maybe even Hawkmoth. “I love it...thank you so much Sharp!”

“Hey, I can’t take all the credit. It’s your design. Your brain child. All I did was bring it to life.” Peeling off his ink stained gloves, Sharp offered Marinette the little tube of paste he’d used on her tattoo. “Make sure to use this a couple times a day, especially on any parts that look extra scaly. And for fuck’s sake, don’t scratch it. It’s stupid easy to get an infection that way.”

“I won’t! Promise!”

“Good.” Sharp plucked a roll of plastic wrap off the counter and tore off a square, taping it down across her tattoo. “And with that, we’re all done. You’re good to go Marinette. Hope your first tattooing experience went as well as you hoped.”

Luka chuckled. “You kidding? Look at her. She’s going to be talking about this for days. Probably months!”

“Definitely months,” Marinette sing songed, pulling a clip of cash out of her purse. The stack of bills she handed Sharp would buy enough groceries to fill Luka’s fridge for a week. Even by tattoo standards, it was generous. But that was typical Marinette. Generous to a fault. “I hope that’s a decent tip. I usually work off commission, so I don’t know what’s considered fair in your industry.”

Taking the cash with a raised brow, Sharp snorted. “Decent? You just bought me and my girl’s dinner tonight. She’ll be thrilled. We can finally splurge on some decent food for once. Tattooing pays the bills and all, but it doesn’t exactly leave a lot of room to splurge.”

Ah. Why did that sound eerily familiar? “I feel your pain man. Music’s my passion, but you’ve gotta make it big to rake in the high dollars. I’m not quite there yet.” Luka helped Marinette to her feet, idly tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “Maybe someday.”

“Don’t sell yourself short Luka! I know you’ll get there,” Marinette praised. 

“...Thanks Mari.” Her unending faith in him was adorable. It made Luka’s heart ache oh so sweetly. “Well, I know who to go to for all my future tattoos and piercings when I’m rich and famous. You do great work Sharp. I’ll definitely be coming to you for my next tattoo.”

Sharp smirked. “I’ll hold you to that. I do piercings too, in case you were wondering. You two look like people who appreciate a good piece of jewelry.” 

Something resonated in Luka’s core with those words, but he shook it off. Sharp didn’t mean anything by it. Right? Right. “Thanks for the heads up. I’ll have to take you up on that one.”

“Cool. Looking forward to it.” Wiping his hands off with a clean washcloth, Sharp offered one out to shake. Marinette and Luka both took it, and then let the brunette lead them to the front of the shop. Marinette rushed through another round of exuberant thank you’s and all but zipped out the front door, squealing when she saw her tattoo in the sunlight. Luka lingered back, watching her fondly. She was precious. 

“You’ve got yourself a firecracker there kid.” Sharp leaned on the doorway beside him, a booted foot kicked up on the wood. “Not too many girls like her nowadays. Hope you can handle her.”

Luka frowned at the tattoo artist, aqua meshing with green. “She doesn’t need handling. Marinette, she’s....special.”

“Uhuh.” Sharp’s gaze lingered on him a touch longer than necessary, taking him in. Then he cracked a smile and offered Luka a business card. “Good answer. Here. Come back and visit me sometime, ok? We’ll get you fixed up. And maybe your girl will have figured out what she wants by then too.”

“She..” oh. He wasn’t talking about tattoos. Interesting. So there was some wisdom behind that chill exterior. “Thanks.” Luka took the card and tucked it inside his pocket, glancing out to the street. Marinette was calling his name, eagerly waving her cell in the air as she started fleeing down the sidewalk. No doubt half of her friends were calling, demanding pictures of her new tattoo. Juleka was undoubtedly among them. 

“She’s waiting for you.” Sharp gave a two fingered salute and nudged Luka out the door, mirth making his irises gleam a prowling predator’s. Maybe a wolf. “See you Luka. Take good care of her. She’ll definitely do the same for you.”

Yeah. She would, wouldn’t she? 

“You have no idea,” Luka sighed, watching the pretty brunette with a deep, gut wrenching longing as he fled the tattoo parlor and chased after her. God, he was pretty damn hopeless. But Marinette made it all worth it. 

  
  



End file.
